1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disk drives for computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive comprising an optical position sensor for vibration mode compensation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of a prior art disk drive comprising a disk 2 rotated by a spindle motor 4, and a head 6 coupled to a distal end of an actuator arm 8 which is rotated about a pivot 10 by a voice coil motor (VCM) in order to actuate the head 6 over the disk 2. The disk 2, spindle motor 4, head 6, actuator arm 8, and VCM are enclosed in a head disk assembly (HDA) comprising a base 9 and a cover 11. The VCM comprises a voice coil 12 coupled to the base of the actuator arm 8 and one or more permanent magnets attached to a yoke 14. When the voice coil 12 is energized with current, the resulting magnetic flux interacts with the magnetic flux of the permanent magnets to generate a torque that rotates the actuator arm 8 about the pivot 10. A tang 16 attached to the actuator arm 8 interacts with a crash stop 18 to limit the stroke of the actuator arm 8, and also provides a latching mechanism (e.g., using a magnet) to maintain the actuator arm 8 in a latched position while the disk drive is powered down. Alternatively, the actuator arm 8 may be parked on a ramp located at the outer periphery of the disk 2 when the disk drive is powered down.
The disk 2 typically comprises embedded servo sectors recorded at a periodic interval around the disk 2 which provide coarse position information (e.g., a track address) used to seek the head 6 to a target track, and fine positioning information (e.g., servo bursts) used to maintain the head 6 over the target track (tracking) during read/write operations. Control circuitry within the disk drive processes the position information detected from the servo sectors to implement a position controlled servo system.
Seeking and tracking operations can excite vibration modes of the actuator arm assembly and VCM that may interfere with the frequency response of the servo system. In particular, exciting the arm torsion and arm sway modes can limit the servo bandwidth leading to excessive settling times, poor disturbance rejection, and poor tracking.
There is, therefore, a need to compensate for vibration modes of the actuator arm assembly and VCM in a disk drive.